Scottish Conservative party faces civil war over plans to dissolve

Sir Jack Harvie, the Scottish Tories’ most influential fundraiser, has condemned Murdo Fraser’s plans to form a new party The Scottish Conservative party is facing civil war after its most influential fundraiser condemned proposals to dissolve the Tories and form a new party . Sir Jack Harvie , a Scottish businessman who has raised millions for the Tories, said he would not work with the new centre-right party proposed by Murdo Fraser, the Scottish Tories’ deputy leader. Fraser, favourite to be the next leader, was accused by Harvie of planning to set up a “separatist” and “breakaway” party not sanctioned by members. The row developed as party sources spoke of a power struggle among its most senior backers for control of funding streams. Harvie said he would continue funding the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party (Scup) if its members rejected Fraser’s new party. He also hinted that he believed Fraser’s proposals were not backed by David Cameron or senior UK officials – a view disputed by Fraser’s allies. Harvie said Fraser and his backers, including the former presiding officer of the Scottish parliament, Alex Fergusson, its education spokeswoman Liz Smith and MEP Struan Stevenson, would have to leave the party if he lost the election. “Having scandalised Scup by word and deed they would surely have no place within Scup in the future,” he said. “And, for that matter, given his intention to form a breakaway party, why would Mr Fraser choose to stand for the leadership of a party he does not support or recognise?” Fraser, the favourite to succeed Annabel Goldie as Scottish Tory leader, believes dissolving Scup and replacing it with a new, wholly independent party is the only way for centre-right politics in Scotland to recover from decades of decline. From winning 22 Scottish seats under Margaret Thatcher in 1979, it was totally wiped out in 1997 and has since had only one Scottish MP at Westminster. It lost two seats at the last Scottish elections, its numbers cut to 15 out of 129 seats. “There is no future for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party in its current form,” Fraser said. “It is, without exaggeration, adapt or die. It’s time to try something different, a bold new direction … [We] will build a new movement to bring back the thousands of people who have left us over the years.” Harvie’s warning carries significant weight. He is a vital part of the Focus on Scotland donors group which raises £1m a year for the party through dinners for wealthy supporters. His threats were echoed by one of Fraser’s rivals for the leadership, Ruth Davidson. But Fraser said a vision for a “new unionism” with a distinctively Scottish outlook and identity was the party’s only hope of successfully opposing first minister Alex Salmond’s proposals for independence. A poll published on Friday by TNS-BMRB (pdf) put support for independence marginally ahead for the first time recently, at 39% to 38% against. In a further move away from the current Tory position on devolution, Fraser indicated he wanted greater decentralisation of powers from London, with the Scottish parliament given new financial powers short of the full financial autonomy Salmond wants. Fraser rejected talk of a second centre-right party, and said he would scrap the existing party and relaunch it only if members agreed. It would be wholly independent of the UK party being led by Cameron but would take the Conservative party whip at Westminster, except on policies it did not support, such as retaining the EU’s common fisheries policy. “There’s no room for two centre-right parties in Scotland,” he said. “We will stay together. We will jump together or not jump at all.” Several sources dismissed the significance of Harvie’s threat to withhold funding. They said many senior donors to Focus on Scotland were interested in backing Fraser and named two wealthy businessmen who have pledged to fund a new Scottish party. One, Robert Gibbons, a retired corporate lawyer who was founding chairman for the bottled water firm Highland Spring, told the Guardian he had pledges from potential donors worth £500,000. A second, Robert Kilgour, who runs an investment firm, said he would transfer his “five figure” donations from the UK party in London to Fraser’s new Scottish organisation. Fraser can so far count prominent Tories such as Sir Malcolm Rifkind, a former foreign secretary and Scottish secretary, as supporters, while Michael Gove, the UK education secretary and a Scot, appears to be in favour. His opponents, however, include Liam Fox, the defence secretary, and Lord Forsyth, a former Scottish secretary who is immensely popular among party activists. Only Forsyth lives in Scotland. The Scottish Tories have suffered a series of extremely poor elections since their peak in 1979 when Thatcher first became prime minister. Its fortunes declined under Thatcher and John Major, her successor. In 1997 it lost every Westminster seat, and has managed to win just one in each general election since despite the “bounce” in support for the Tories in England under Cameron. At the last Scottish elections, in May, the Tories won just 15 out of 129 seats, leading to Goldie’s resignation as leader. Scottish politics Conservatives Scotland Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk

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